The sets of the British ITV soap opera Coronation Street have undergone four major and several less significant changes since the first broadcast in December 1960. Originally entirely indoors, in 1968 the original wooden set was moved outside, and shortly afterwards reconstructed in brick. In 1982 the set was entirely rebuilt in a new location. The current set, brought into use in 2013, is based at the ITV Trafford Wharf Studios backlot, MediaCityUK in Trafford.

It consists of early 20th-century red brick terraced houses (typical of the type found in towns and cities in the north of England), with a public house, The Rovers Return, at one end, and a corner shop at the other. The other side of the street consists of a factory, two shop units, a garage and three semi-detached houses, all appearing to have been constructed in the late 1980s.

1960–1982

From 1960 until 1968, the complete set of Coronation Street (house interiors and exteriors) was erected inside one of Granada Television's studios in central Manchester, with the houses reduced to three-quarters scale. This small set was awkward for the actors, who had to walk more slowly than normal to appear in scale with the houses. There are a number of reasons for the use of an indoor studio, the main one being that the infancy of production techniques at the time did not allow easy recording and editing of sequences filmed in different locations. It was not until 1967 that editing techniques had improved enough to allow Coronation Street to be filmed on separate interior and exterior sets.

The studios were not big enough for the entire street to be erected at once, so it was split into two halves. The pavements and cobbled street were painted onto the studio floor. Despite the limitations of the cramped studio set, some complex and dramatic scenes were filmed there. These include the collapse of number 7 in 1965, and two years later, a special effects-laden storyline involving a train crash; the viewers did not know if stalwart Ena Sharples was dead under the rubble.

In 1967, Granada Television made the decision to build an outside set. This new set was built on some old railway sidings near Granada Studios, and coincided with a storyline of the demolition of Elliston's raincoat factory and the Mission Hall, and the subsequent building of maisonettes opposite the terrace.

Coronation Street's 1968 set was initially not all that different from the interior version previously used, with the wooden facades that had been used in the studio simply being erected on the new site. The only real change seen on screen was natural light illuminating the street for the first time. In late 1969 the street was constructed in brick, with roofs and back yards added later. The set was still reduced in scale and quite cramped and even though the pavements and cobbled street were now real, the cobbles were not parallel to the houses, and ran diagonally down the street. The first exterior set was referred to as "the coldest place on earth" by actors and crew since they disliked working on it due to a near-constant wind which blew directly down the street. Filming on the new exterior set was kept to a minimum, not only because the actors disliked the set, but because of the higher cost of using film for exterior sequences.

The site later became the New York Street at the now-closed Granada Studios Tour complex. The site of New York Street set has been used again in Coronation Street, notably for Davenports (the firm Sally Webster worked for when she embarked on an affair with her boss, Ian Davenport); the strip club where Lloyd Mullaney met Cheryl Gray and also as the location for Weatherfield's tram stop where Izzy Armstrong was mugged in 2011. In 2012, the site featured as the location of a casino and another strip club in which the character Kylie Platt (née Granger) was working.

1982–2013

In 1982 an almost full-size exterior street was built in the Granada backlot, with the cobbles running in the correct direction. The new set was opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1982. The properties were constructed to a scale of 7/10; the new backlot at MediaCity UK is constructed to 9/10.

Production areas in the Granada Studios backlot Prop vehicle parking Parking for the prop vehicles was located where you would expect the western end of Crimea Street to be. This was where most vehicles were seen to be heading when leaving the street via Viaduct Street, however those that left via Victoria Street were, in reality, heading to a dead-end, where the Granada bonded warehouse was.

Stage One Featured the interior sets for the Rovers Return and No. 1 Coronation Street, among others. The Rovers Return was permanently erected due to the set's constant use. During Coronation Street: The Tour, visitors saw inside the Rovers Return as well as Carla Connor's former apartment, Numbers 8 and 9 Coronation Street and also Underworld. The barge owned by Martha, who had an affair with Ken Barlow in 2009 was also a set for tourists to see during their Coronation Street visit. In March 2015 the studio tour was updated to include The Kabin.

Stage Two Once featured the interior set of No. 13 Coronation Street among others. The entrance to Stage Two was between some flats on Victoria Street and Victoria Court.

Exterior set Since it was intended to be permanent, the houses were constructed from reclaimed Salford brick and roof slates to give an authentic look. The buildings were not complete, most lacking interior walls. The chimneys were made of fibreglass since there was insufficient support for brick ones. The building interiors were used as offices for writers and as stores for props used in outdoor shooting, aside from the takeaway, butcher shop and Barlow's Buys, which were built so that filming could take place inside them.

In the following years, staircases were added inside the doors of the houses. A number of Granada tower blocks dominated the skyline around the set. These were usually obscured through careful camera angles.

The door next to Audrey's salon led to a flat above the salon itself, which was used as the supporting artistes' green room and consisted of two simple rooms, one with chairs and a sink/wash area for extras, and the other used as a costume change area.

Towards the end of the 1980s, scenes filmed on the exterior set became more numerous after the show's location work switched from film to videotape in 1988, although some outdoor video shooting, using large, tethered cameras, had been trialled as early as 1977. More trials were conducted with a PSC (portable single camera) unit for the Rovers Return fire episode in 1986.

In 1989, larger development of the Coronation Street set took place. The factory and community centre which had been part of the street since 1971 were demolished. Three new houses, two shop units, a garage and a factory were built on the site. These developments were the idea of new executive producer David Liddiment. The tour was closed on Mondays, as this was the day that the set was used for filming at the time.

When the Granada Studios Tour was closed in 1999 the exterior set was extended and updated. The derelict Graffiti Club on Rosamund Street was revamped and reopened as a medical centre. A new road, Victoria Street, was built to house three shops and two houses. A builders' yard backing onto the betting shop was built. To obscure one of the Granada Television buildings, a new viaduct was built on Rosamund Street. This sat behind the Rovers and parallel to Coronation Street and introduced an anomaly, as it did not appear in the opening titles aerial shots of Coronation Street. The "viaduct" was actually a façade with an optical illusion to make it look complete. A backdrop of some Salford streets was erected in 2005 allowing shots to be filmed looking up Rosamund Street and creating the illusion of other dwellings further along that street.

At the end of Coronation Street there is a fictitious tram line which has seen CGI trams used over it in the past (notably the opening titles and when Kelly Crabtree left the long-running drama). The storyline for December 2010 (Coronation Streets 50th anniversary) showed the viaduct collapse, sending the tram onto the cobbles, demolishing the Kabin and the corner shop in the process.

Whilst the majority of the interior scenes were filmed within Stages One and Two (the scale of the houses meant it unfeasible to set up filming within the exterior backlot) Elliott's Butchers, Barlow's Buys, Prima Doner and Webster's Autos all allowed for interior/exterior filming. At one time Barlow's Buys was previously a bookmakers; before 2000 this was merely a façade to hide the Granada Studios Tours and the bookmakers set was interior only.

On 20 December 2013, the final scenes were filmed at Quay Street, and the set re-opened on 5 April 2014, when it became a tourist attraction.

Planning permission was submitted in 2015 to demolish this set: demolition took place in 2017.

ITV Trafford Wharf set (2013–) In March 2009, it was announced that Coronation Street would stay on the then-current Quay Street site "for the foreseeable future".James Welsh, "'Corrie' to stay on Quay Street" , Digital Spy, 11 March 2009. Following a change of hands at ITV management, talks between ITV and The Peel Group for the move to the Trafford Park site reopened in January 2010.Tara Conlan, "Coronation Street set to be demolished" , The Guardian, 11 January 2010. In December 2010, it was announced that the proposed move was now to take place."Coronation Street set to be rebuilt" , BBC News, 16 December 2010.

Construction began in September 2011 after the area next to the Imperial War Museum North was surveyed for any possible World War II bomb threats,"After tram disaster, Corrie faces real-life bomb drama", Manchester Evening News, 7 January 2011. the studios were constructed by Mace (the actual set by Askam Construction) and building was completed in 2013."Work to start on new Coronation Street set" , Place North West, 6 September 2011. The set is built to a greater scale than the Granada TV set and there are several changes to the structure of the street and the surrounding areas."Corrie's new set: List of noticeable changes" , Weatherfield Recorder, 17 December 2011."A few more changes found on the new set" , Coronation Street blog, 20 December 2011.

On 29 November 2013, the new set was officially unveiled. At the press launch ITV announced that an hour-long documentary entitled Coronation Street – A Moving Story will air which will accompany the show's set move to MediaCityUK. Filmed over two years, the programme reveals how the new production base was planned and built. The documentary also features interviews from cast and crew members. Coronation Street – A Moving Story aired on 6 March 2014 on ITV. On 9 March 2014 ITV announced that the opening title sequence had been updated slightly. The new titles now feature the updated exteriors to; The Rovers Return Inn, D&S Alahan's corner shop, and Nick's Bistro, interior scenes have been screened and exterior scenes at the new set first aired on 10 March 2014. Despite the houses being built to be a more realistic scale, filming is still completely studio based for the majority of interior scenes. The interior sets for Prestons Petals, the Prima Doner kebab shop and the community centre are also filmed within the actual building like the previous set. The Underworld factory and Street Cars join them and can be filmed within the exterior. The Underworld factory was previously filmed within its building on the backlot at Granada Studios. Furthermore, for the first time in the show's history, The Rovers Return has a partial interior to allow camera shots looking into the exit to the rear yard and smoking area.